Some HOME/Unschooling Messages Please?

I'm rather new to the list, and all I have read so far is about sending kids to school. Although I understand public or private school should always be considered an option, I would really like to learn more about how others are unschooling their kids at home.

This is the perpetual problem with unschooling. If you don't have a curriculum, what do you talk about? We live, our kids learn. Unschooling lacks the power struggles and pathos that make for good discussions.

Do you use ANY curriculum at all? Do you start doing anything more structured at any certain age/level? What about high school and college preparation? What do you do around the home to provide the stimulation to LEARN?

Morganne will be 7 on Tuesday; she's officially in the second grade. She reads for at least 2 hours every day. She got out the Miquon math books and her Cuisenaire rods earlier this week and did math for about 6 hours. She played Treasure Cove for a while yesterday.

Our major "curriculum" item this fall has been the birth of her brother Malcolm, who will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. Baby studies.

We are in a homeschooling program that is pro-unschooling and Morganne's "teacher", Tom, came by around the first of October to check in. He asked Morganne what she was interested in learning and she said she wanted to learn about the ocean and sharks. We're planning some field trips to the Monterey Aquarium and Marine World to help out with this and I also plan on getting her some books.

Her other big area this fall has been what I will call the fabric arts. She has been making dolls out of old socks, stuffed with other socks or beans or so forth and dressing them. She's also made dolls out of straw and she makes accessories for the dolls. So, for her birthday, I am getting her some supplies to aid in her fabric creations. There are children's sewing classes offered locally and I have let her know that these are available.

My biggest challenge is to keep Morganne supplied with books. She's currently wading her way through T. H. White's The Once and Future King. She was fascinated by the biography of Helen Keller.

And, regarding the "Big S," I finally came to the realization that "doing something WRONG is NOT better than not doing it at all!" And that's even assuming home-schooling does NO socialization, which we all know it does.My four kids are very active in 4-H and other community groups as well as living with each other (now that requires social skills!).

I agree wholeheartedly with you, Tina.